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Verified Purchaser zZounds has verified that this reviewer purchased this specific product from us.

I initially bought this powered bass amp to replace my Eden WT Navigator and a separate power amp (1200 watts per side @8ohms - very powerful). It's a tough preamp to beat because of the full parametric eq (3 midrange frequency ranges). No other company could match Eden's midrange versatility except this head by Mesa Boogie. But not only did they match it, they upped the game with a passive mid knob, a powr amp damping knob, and most important, a high-pass filter. I know, it seems like an oxymoron to have a hi-pass on a bass amp, but wait until you play in a venue where the stage floor shakes at 80hz, and the drummer is being overwhelmed, until you dial in your hi-pass knob. It's a godsend, believe me! I actually leave mine on at around the 9 'oclock position, unless I'm playing my 5-string, which I'll bring down to about 8'o'clock.And the passive mid is very interesting - subtle, but useful. Once you have your midrange where you want it, you can futz with this knob. It's a set and forget knob for me, just like the Power Amp Damping knob, which I leave on med. It's something I haven't really played with much but a few times. I seem to like it on that med. position and leave it there.The only complaint I have is the power isn't quite enough for me. I miss having gobs of headroom and have my master gain at around 11 to 12 positions. It's now at the 1:30-2 o'clock position, which I don't really like. Sometimes even the 3 'o'clock for outdoor stages. The cool thing though is input knob will give you some natural saturation, which some bassists will not like, but I've grown to appreciate. It adds tone and helps you cut through a mix in a subtle way. I don't like cranking it, but it's there to use if you dig that overdrive effect. I prefer a cleaner level, so I leave mine at about 9-10 o'clock. The only other small complaint I have is that active/passive switch. I wish it was another even just a 1/2" away from the mute switch. There's been about 3-4 times I've switched it to the up position after muting the amp between songs to drink some water, etc., and suddenly, my volume goes down about 10-15dB (I forget what it's rated when this is switched up), so I'm fiddling with my main volume in the middle of a song, only to realize that switch was accidently turned up. Those are minor complaints, mind you. My band now use IEM's and the volume from the bass amp on stage matters much less now. I've also learned to look to see if I've turned on that active switch when muting the amp. :-) Ha! For the touring bassist, a bassist who wants an alternative to Eden's WT series, or a bassist who's wants to level up to a pro-grade bass amp, I highly support your decision to get this amp. I've owned it for almost two years, and its toured with me on about 125 shows now without one issue. I absolutely love the tone it gives me. Oh, and a huge component that makes this amp great is the direct out XLR. Sound men love its quality and versatility. It's known in soundguy circles that the direct out is very clean and pro level, a HUGE reason why I got this instead of an Eden WT800 (plus they have a lot of mixed reviews due to QC). Eden's direct outs have a lot of noise, which means you'll have to spend good money on a Radial direct box (or some other quality company). Not this Mesa WD-800 - clean sound to the board and to the audience. So important.And yes, I bought mine right here. Thank goodness for their 12-month payment plan. I paid it off early, but to have that option helped tremendously in purchasing this.

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